Russia is targeting UK’s infrastructure and democracy, GCHQ head to say | GCHQ
Russia is ruthlessly targeting Britain’s infrastructure and democracy but there is only a narrowing technological window to stay ahead of a fast-developing China, the head of spy agency GCHQ will warn at a conference on Wednesday.
Annual keynote speaker Anne Keast-Butler will say the UK is caught in a “new age of radical uncertainty” and the “risk of miscalculation” is as high as it has ever been as hacker attacks from two states continue.
The spymaster will specifically highlight the wide-ranging threats posed by Russia, saying Moscow has “ruthlessly targeted critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains and public trust” in the UK.
This requires GCHQ, which specializes in electronic intelligence, to fend off cyber attacks and counter “reckless sabotage and assassination attempts” in its efforts to protect the UK and support its western allies and Ukraine.
He will state that Russia also targeted Britain and other allies with campaigns of sabotage and disruption during the Ukraine war. In one instance, incendiary bombs were placed in DHL packages traveling by plane from the continent; one of them spotlighted a warehouse in Leipzig, Germany, and the other in Birmingham.
Despite the many espionage scandals of the past year, the language around China has been notably quieter. This reflects the government’s wider efforts to maintain a positive trade and economic relationship following Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit in January.
“China is now a science and technology superpower, with advanced capabilities across its intelligence, cyber and military agencies,” Keast-Butler will say, and the increasing development of artificial intelligence means there is a “narrowing window for the UK and its allies to stay ahead.”
According to figures published last month by Richard Horne, director general of the National Cyber Security Centre, an arm of Cheltenham-based GCHQ, the UK has to deal with four major cybersecurity incidents a week; China, Russia and Iran are behind most serious attacks.
The extent of hostile activity online has led other spy chiefs, including Blaise Metreweli, the newly appointed head of foreign intelligence agency MI6, to warn that the UK remains “in a vacuum between peace and war”. Information and technology are increasingly being weaponized by Russia and others, he said in December.
Keast-Butler is expected to say on Wednesday, in a speech at Bletchley Park, the second world war home of GCHQ, which then specialized in cracking codes used by the German army, that Britain faces a “moment of consequence” in which it faces increasingly brazen behavior from its enemies.
The spymaster referred to correspondence from his first director, Alastair Denniston, in the months leading up to the outbreak of war, in an effort to demonstrate GCHQ’s ability to plan ahead of a major crisis.
In January 1939, eight months before Adolf Hitler invaded Poland, he secretly requested a commitment from Cambridge University’s Newnham College to recruit “in case of emergency… six students proficient in modern languages.”
Previously on Tuesday, the UK targeted Russia-linked cryptocurrency platforms, banks and financial networks, which it said were used to circumvent sanctions. It froze their assets and banned UK firms from processing payments and establishing banking relationships.
The measures targeted “shadow financial systems” said to be supporting Russia’s war economy, including the Kremlin-backed A7 network. Britain said it was used to divert funds, finance supplies and use foreign banking systems to evade restrictions on Russian money imposed after the invasion of Ukraine.
Cryptocurrency exchanges and entities operating Russia-focused platforms have also been targeted by UK sanctions, including individuals connected to the network, as well as a Kyrgyz bank and firms registered in jurisdictions such as Georgia and the United Arab Emirates.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “We will continue to act quickly and decisively with our allies to expose, disrupt and dismantle these networks and ensure that enablers of Russia’s aggression face consequences.”
